Ridiculous ? that has been discussed 5,000 times

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I am still a bit confused as to how much I should be eating as far as exercise calories, no exercise calories. Yesterday for instance was what threw me for a loop. I promise I am not stupid, work with numbers for a living, but for some reason cannot wrap my head around this! I am eating 1700 calories a day, burn 2540 from normal daily activities, so that is a deficit of 840 calories. yesterday however, with the swimming I did, I ended up netting like 500 something calories. Is that correct??

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  • DanaDark
    DanaDark Posts: 2,187 Member
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    Simply put... try to make your deficit not exceed 1000 calories. If you normally have a deficit of 840 and then swim another 500, that is 1340, so eat back 340.

    This is a general rule of thumb. The true limit number depends on a formula based on how much body fat you have in kg. But 1000 is a safe bet for almost everyone. Plus, losing fat too quickly can cause saggy skin. :(
  • rose313
    rose313 Posts: 1,146 Member
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    If you put your stats into MFP correctly then it should tell you what to do. It already includes the deficit for you based on how much you told it you wanted to lose per week. Just get as close to netting your goal as you possibly can, but don't stuff yourself if you're not hungry.

    For example, if your daily calorie goal is 1800, and you exercise 800 off, then eat those back if you wish. At least eat most of them back so you don't net too low.

    The fact that you burn 2300 calories in a total day just means that you will lose if you eat below that. MFP does all the calculations for you.
  • krom862
    krom862 Posts: 46 Member
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    Now that I can work with - thank you!
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    Can't see your food diary so I can't say a definitive yes or no but......assuming your normal TDEE is 2,540 and you're eating 1,700 cal per day that would give you a daily deficit of 840. If you burned 1,200 calories in addition to your normal TDEE you would have netted 500 cal however if swimming is a regular par of your activity and is included in your TDEE then no you didn't net 500.
  • krom862
    krom862 Posts: 46 Member
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    I changed my diary if you want to look, but swimming is not part of my daily activity, or it wasn't before this week. Yesterday I burned 1085 calories swimming, and still only ate 1700 calories.